Intruder fought off with a mop

A would-be convenience store robber was fought off by the store’s owner Adrian Rochani with a mop after he threatened him.

The attempted robbery took place in Brisbane earlier in the month, as a masked man walked into the store just after 7pm and pulled a single-barrel shotgun from his bag.

According to the shop owner’s son, the masked man shouted at Mr Rochani: “Do you want to die, do you want to die”.

Mr Rochani responded by grabbing a mop and launching at the masked man, in an attempt to knock the gun from his hand.

Mr Rochani was hit twice in the head with the firearm during the struggle which resulted in blood and the masked man fleeing the scene.

Yas Rochani, Mr Rochani’s son said his dad was just trying to protect his family who were witnesses to the attempted robbery.

“My dad, he obviously thought about my sisters. What about them, what if they got hurt. What if the guy just decided to shoot. He just wanted to defend the family more than anything,” he said.

“My dad, obviously he got hyped up, and he grabbed the closest thing near him, which was the mop, and he started going at him. They grabbed each other, and my dad hit him. One hit, he fell to the floor.

“And then they started scuffling, they went outside… the guy turned around and hit him with the edge of the gun, twice on the head. And that’s when Dad was walking straight back in, and just blood all over the shop, all over into the kitchen.”

Mr Rochani was taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital and received stitches to the head.

This was not the first time that the store had been targeted by armed robbers.